STRUTHERS SCHOOLS Warm weather boosts construction

STRUTHERS -- Because of recent mild weather, construction is ahead of schedule at both the new elementary school and the high school, Superintendent Sandra DiBacco says.
Ground was broken in June for the elementary school, which is under construction at Ninth and Elm streets on the former site of Lyon Plat Elementary School, which has been demolished.
That building, where construction is two weeks ahead of schedule and more than half completed, is scheduled to open at the beginning of the 2002-03 school year, DiBacco said after Tuesday's school board meeting. It will house pupils now attending Manor Avenue, Sexton Street and Center Street elementary schools.
Those three schools will house middle school pupils that school year while renovations are under way at the middle school.
Manor Avenue Elementary will then be mothballed for possible use later as a board office building.
The board will work with the city to find another use for the Sexton and Center street buildings or demolish them, DiBacco said.
High school: Construction began in September for the new high school, which is being built at the west end of Struthers Field House. The new high school is set to open in January 2003 after which the old high school will be demolished. The field house will be renovated and remain standing.
The work is being undertaken in a state school facilities improvement effort costing more than $31 million, with 86 percent of the money coming from the state and 14 percent from a bond issue the district's voters approved in November 1999.